Sheeting arrangement for sheeting of a ditch

ABSTRACT

This disclosure relates to a sheeting arrangement for the sheeting or shoring of a ditch or trench wherein vertical supports are driven into the ground and thereafter sheeting walls are placed between the vertical supports with the sheeting walls having relative vertical movement with respect to the supports during the positioning and pulling thereof. In order to facilitate the movement of the sheeting walls relative to the supports without undue binding or frictional resistance, it has been proposed to provide the connections between the sheeting wall and the support with bearing like elements.

United States Patent Krings [451 Oct. 7, 1975 SHEETING ARRANGEMENT FORSHEETING OF A DITCH 3,621.660 11/1971 Krings 61/39 Primary ExaminerPaulR. Gilliam Assistant Examiner-David H. Corbin Attorney, Agent, orFirmDiller. Brown, Ramik &

Wight [57] ABSTRACT This disclosure relates to a sheeting arrangementfor the sheeting or shoring of a ditch or trench wherein verticalsupports are driven into the ground and there after sheeting walls areplaced between the vertical supports with the sheeting walls havingrelative vertical movement with respect to the supports during thepositioning and pulling thereof. In order to facilitate the movement ofthe sheeting walls relative to the supports without undue binding orfrictional resistance, it has been proposed to provide the connectionsbetween the sheeting wall and the support with bearing like elements.

4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures r t j j l 4 -J" i I Oct. 7,1975 Sheet 1 of 23,910,054

US. Patent US. Patent Oct. 7,1975 Sheet 2 f2 3,910,054

Fig. 5

3 8 4 m A 1 A 2 I m 6 w m 5 W M0 m SHEETING ARRANGEMENT FOR SHEETING OFA DITCll-I This invention relates to a sheeting arrangement for thesheeting or shoring of ditches which includes vertical supports of aslotted, hollow box profile and sheeting walls which are guidinglypositioned in the supports.

In the sheeting or shoring of ditches in accordance with recentlydeveloped sheeting arrangements, the sheeting walls are of aprefabricated construction hav ing flange-like guide elements which areguided in vertical supports, the vertical supports at the same timeserving as connecting members for the sheeting walls and havingconnected thereto the usual spreaders or clamping bases. The supports inthe sheeting walls can be forced into the soil independently of oneanother or may be independently pulled out of the soil. It has beenfound that in many cases the frictional contact between the supports andthe sheeting walls is relatively great, particularly when thecooperating parts are not finished to fit precisely and/or to be fittedinto one another.

In view of the foregoing, this invention is directed to a sheetingarrangement which is so constructed wherein it avoids the foregoingshortcomings while at the same time having the required stability.

The difficulties of the prior sheeting and support arrangements havebeen solved by providing means for decreasing the frictional resistancebetween the sheeting wall and its associated support. According to oneembodiment of the invention, the inside surfaces of the support and/orthe sliding parts of the sheeting walls which are guided in the supportshave a coating made of a material which has a low riding frictioncoefficient, for example, a suitable plastic material.

In accordance with a further development of the invention, on the frontside of the sheeting wall there have been mounted projecting rollers, atleast a certain of which are mounted for rotating about axles disposedgenerally perpendicular to the plane of the sheeting walls while otherrollers rotate about axles which lie in the plane of the sheeting walland extend perpendicular with respect to the associated support. In thisembodiment of the invention, the sheeting wall, because of the lateralsoil pressure exerted thereon in use, is supported by one leg of thesupport while the sheeting wall can support itself against longitudinalforces relative to the support by means of the other rolls.

A'still further development of the invention provides for the mountingof the rolls which have the axles thereof lying in the plane of thesheeting wall and per pendicular to the support, as fitting against onlyone leg of the support.

Yet another feature of the invention is to resiliently mount the rolls.

In a stillfurther embodiment of the invention, there is mounted on thefront side of the sheeting wall several bearings which are spaced fromone another and in which pairs of rolls are mounted for rotation aboutan axle arranged perpendicular with respect to the plane of the sheetingwall. Advantageously, the rolls of the pair of rolls are at least partspherical rolls.

With the above and other objects in view that will hereinafter appear,the nature of the invention will be more clearly understood by referenceto the following detailed description, the appended claims and theseveral views illustrated in the accompanying drawings:

IN THE DRAWINGS:

FIG. 1 is a horizontal sectional view through a support and a part of asheeting wall taken generally along the line I I of FIG. 3 with thesheeting wall being shown in elevation for purposes of clarity.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view similar to FIG. 1, but taken alongthe line II II of FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken through the support generallyin the plane of the sheeting wall with intermediate portions of both thesupport and sheeting wall being broken away.

FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view similar to FIG. 1, but taken alongthe line IV IV of FIG. 5 and shows the modified form of guidance.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along the line V Vof FIG. 4 and shows more specifi cally the details of the mounting ofthe guidance structure of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is another horizontal sectional view similar to FIG. 1 and showsstill another embodiment of the guidance arrangement in accordance withthis invention.

With reference to FIGS. 1 3, there is illustrated a first embodiment ofa sheeting arrangement formed in accordance with this invention. Thesheeting arrangement includes a support 1 and sheeting wall 2. Thesupport 1 is essentially in the form of a double-T which is provided atthe ends of its legs or cross bars with termi nal flange elements 3,4which extend generally parallel to the stem or bridge 5 of thesupport 1. The flange elements 3 are in the form of strips whereas theflange elements 4 are in the form of angle members. The flange 3cooperates with the flange 4 at each side of the support to define thegenerally U-shaped channel while the angle flanges 4 cooperate at oneside of the support 1 to define a further generally U-shaped channel.

It is also to be noted that the stem or bridge 5 of the support isreinforced by two walls 6 which are parallel to the bridge 5 and aredisposed on opposite sides thereof inwardly of the flanges. 3,4. Thisreinforcement is effective to make the support 1 structurally rigid.

The sheeting wall 2 is provided with an edge wall or front wall 7 onwhich bearing type supports 8 are mounted in pairs. The bearing typesupports 8 are disposed perpendicular to the wall 7 and have disposedtherebetween a roller 9 which is mounted on an axle 10 carried by thebearing type supports 8. The axle 10 is disposed perpendicular to theplane of the sheeting wall 2 and generally perpendicular to the planesof the cross bars of the support 1. The roller 9 projects sufficientlyfrom the sheeting wall 2 so as to extend within the confines of thesupport 1 and rollingly engage the adjacent reinforcing wall 6.

A further bearing type support 11 is attached to the sheeting wall 7 ata suitable distance above or below an associated roller 9. Each bearingtype support 11 carries a disc-shaped roll 12 which is mounted on anaxle 13 carried by the support 11 with the axle 13 being disposedtransversely to the support 1 and generally within the plane of thesheeting wall 2. Each roller 12 is disposed perpendicular to the axis ofits axle 13 and is arranged somewhat eccentrically within the associatedspace between the two legs of the support 1 so that it engages againstthe inner side of one leg of the sup port. As is shown in FIG. 2, theroller 12 engages against the side or leg of the support 1 which isdisposed away from the ditch which is being shored by the sheeting wall2, the ditch not being shown. It is this leg of the support 1 whichabsorbs the greatest forces from the sheeting wall.

During the positioning or pulling of the sheeting walls 2, the rollers 9and 12 provide for a relatively free guid ing of the sheeting walls 2within the supports 1 and thus greatly facilitate the positioning orpulling action. On the other hand, since sufficient free space willremain inside of the supports 1, any possible fouling of the rollers 9and 12 is prevented and thus their functioning is assured. The rollersadvantageously can be attached to the sheeting wall subsequent to theconstruction thereof.

In FIGS. 4 and 5 of the drawings, there is illustrated anotherembodiment of the invention. In accordance with this embodiment of theinvention, the wall 7 of the sheeting wall is provided at verticallyspaced intervals with bearing-type supports 14, each of which includes atubular housing in which an axle 16 is journalled. At the ends of eachaxle 16there are mounted rollers which are disposed between thereinforcement wall 6 and the supporting flanges 3 and 4. The rollers arepref erably at least part spherical so that when the sheeting wall 2 isbeing positioned or being pulled and the same shifts to an offsetposition with respect to the support 1, one of the rollers 17 willengage the corresponding leg of the support 1 and provide ananti-friction bearing so as to minimize the frictional contact betweenthe sheeting wall 2 and the adjacent support 1.

It will be readily apparent that the embodiment of FIGS. 4 and 5 offerthe same advantages as those of FIGS. 1 3. It is also to be understoodthat adjacent ones of the bearing-type supports 14 may be disposedeccentrically with respect to the general plane of the sheeting wall 2so that they will combine to generally center the sheeting wall 2 withrespect to the support 1, as is shown in FIG. 4.

It is also to be understood that in the two embodiments of FIGS. 1through 5 to make the bearing-type supports of a resilient constructionwould be advantageous. This would provide for the resilient mounting ofthe rollers 9, l2 and 17.

In FIG. 6 there is illustrated still another embodiment of theinvention. In lieu of the anti-friction type rollers of the embodimentsof FIGS. 1 through 5, the front wall 7 of the sheeting wall 2 isprovided with a guide strip 18 which is rigidly connected to the frontwall 7. In FIG. 6 the two legs of the support 1 are identified by thenumerals l9 and 20 and the insides of these legs 19,20, as well as theinsides of the flanges 3,4 which oppose the reinforcings walls 6 arecoated with a material having a very low friction coefficient. Forexample, certain plastic materials will suffice. These coatings havebeen generally designated by the numeral 21. If desired, the guide strip18 may also have a like coating 21 thereon in opposing relation to thereinforcement wall 6. Obviously, the coating 21 could be applied to thereinforcement wall 6 instead of on the guide strip 18.

It is also pointed out here that suitable coatings could advantageouslybe utilized in the embodiment of FIGS. 4 and 5 with these coatings beingsupplied to the same areas of the support 1 in those Figures.

Although only several preferred embodiments of the invention have beenspecifically illustrated and described herein, it is to be understoodthat minor variations may be made in the sheeting arrangement withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined by theappended claims.

I claim:

1. An apparatus comprising sheeting means for the shoring of ditches,said sheeting means including vertical posts of a hollow box-likeprofile, sheeting walls, and guide heads carried by each of saidsheeting walls in vertically spaced relation and guided in said posts,each post having at least one leg disposed normal to the plane of anadjacent one of said sheeting walls and inner and outer legs disposedparallel to the plane of adjacent ones of said sheeting walls, saidguide head having a plurality of rollers, some of said rollers beingmounted for rotation on axes disposed normal to the plane of arespective sheeting wall in engagement with said one leg and others ofsaid rollers being mounted for rotation on axes extending within theplane of the respective sheeting wall between side surfaces thereof andperpendicular to an adjacent post, said other rol lers being offsetrelative to the respective sheeting wall such that they run only on saidinner leg of the respective post which inner leg will be adjacent to thecenter of a ditch being shored.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein there are means resiliently mountingsaid rollers.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein those rollers which are mounted forrotation on axes disposed normal to the plane of the respective sheetingwall are mounted in pairs with the rollers of each pair being mountedfor rotation about a single axis and said rollers are part spherical.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein those rollers which are mounted forrotation on axes disposed normal to the plane of the respective sheetingwall are mounted in pairs with the rollers of each pair being mountedfor rotation about a single axis and said rollers are part spherical.

1. An apparatus comprising sheeting means for the shoring of ditches, said sheeting means including vertical posts of a hollow box-like profile, sheeting walls, and guide heads carried by each of said sheeting walls in vertically spaced relation and guided in said posts, each post having at least one leg disposed normal to the plane of an adjacent one of said sheeting walls and inner and outer legs disposed parallel to tHe plane of adjacent ones of said sheeting walls, said guide head having a plurality of rollers, some of said rollers being mounted for rotation on axes disposed normal to the plane of a respective sheeting wall in engagement with said one leg and others of said rollers being mounted for rotation on axes extending within the plane of the respective sheeting wall between side surfaces thereof and perpendicular to an adjacent post, said other rollers being offset relative to the respective sheeting wall such that they run only on said inner leg of the respective post which inner leg will be adjacent to the center of a ditch being shored.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein there are means resiliently mounting said rollers.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein those rollers which are mounted for rotation on axes disposed normal to the plane of the respective sheeting wall are mounted in pairs with the rollers of each pair being mounted for rotation about a single axis and said rollers are part spherical.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein those rollers which are mounted for rotation on axes disposed normal to the plane of the respective sheeting wall are mounted in pairs with the rollers of each pair being mounted for rotation about a single axis and said rollers are part spherical. 